My name is Trina Forrest and I'm a teacher at the Page School in West Newbury. The ocean has always been a place where my family and I enjoy spending time every chance we can!
In addition to loving the coast as a past-time, I teach 5th grade science and have many opportunities within my curriculum to study the ocean. My students and I learn about various ecosystems and explore how living organisms depend on each other. One of our fieldtrips associated with this unit is to explore tidepools on Plum Island. I'm looking forward to digging deeper into how to teach about our oceans more effectively!
Friday, April 8, 2011
I had a great first night! I really enjoyed our tour of the Cushing House, especially since I will be going on a field-trip there later this spring with my 5th grade class. I took notes like crazy, absorbing as much as I could as our 'tour guide' impressed us with his wealth of knowledge! He was so knowledgable and a really gifted guide! Learning about the history of the development of the Newburys was very interesting and I feel like I have gained such valuable depth to teaching Massachusett's history. It is a true testament as to how humans depend so much on our oceans for our existence and how our oceans have created entire cultures, like that of Newburyport, by supplying people with a livelyhood and culture.
Coming into the course, I was still very unclear of the meaning behind the term 'ocean literacty'. After our first session, I have a much better sense of the meaning and importance of this term. The seven principles of ocean literacy all make powerful statements, but number seven resonates most deeply with me. "The ocean is largely unexplored"...I can't help but think of the recent news I heard last night that Richard Branson will be using a mini-submarine developed by NASA to explore the bottom of the Earth's deepest ocean. I can't think of a more overdue exploration! The following is the web link to the newcast I watched last night. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/05/richard-branson-plans-deep-ocean-dive-sub/. It's amazing how far our ocean exploration has come since the days of Prince Henry's Navigation School! (That is something we talk about in Fifth Grade History along with ship designs and early navigational tools. I think is an astrolabe that I saw at the Cushing House?!)
atrolabe at Cushing House?
This, in turn, leads me to the sixth principle, "The ocean and humans are inextricably linked" which is almost equally important to me. When I read that principle, I cringed because I felt a huge guilt that humans are destroying this relationship. The radioactive snow, the contaminated discs, the oil spill, the garbage whirls that are floating in the Pacific, and the list goes on! The eternal effects of these types of human interactions with the fragile ecosystems within these ocean systems will probably never be truly quantified or understood, until we explore all the depths of our oceans.
I am looking forward to exploring Plum Island tomorrow. To me, it is 'place-based' education at its best! Plum Island is where I, my family and my students exist as a culture. It's how we live here in Newburyport and how my students live in West Newbury. We surf, play in the sand, swim in the ocean, sail, boat, and fish. We eat seafood, we explore tidepools and we are constantly trying to improve our bad habits that pollute our oceans. I'm hoping to bring back some concrete examples of how I can educate my students in a way that makes their life more meaningful. Why do they need to learn about ecosystems? Why do we explore the tidepools at Plum Island? Why should we explore our oceans? I want all of my students to feel a connection to each of these questions. They need to feel a sense of awareness and a sense of 'own-ness'. John's statistic of 60% of the population lives within 50 miles of an ocean say it all!
Saturday, April 9th, 2011
Another great class! What a gorgeous day and beautiful location! I have a new love and respect for Plum Island. Rarely have I explored beyond Lot #1 of the reserve. So besides navigating the boardwalk and building sandcastles with my kids, I have not learned much about the island. Gary and Rob taught us so many interesting fact on how the island was formed, how it affects the land behind it, and how it will continue to change in the future.
Gary explained that a barrier island is an island that protects and shapes everything behind it. In the case of Plum Island, that is mostly the salt marshes. Plum Island is basically a large sandbar. The sand and rocks which make up the island have been deposited there by huge glaciers that traveled south from Wisconsin/Canada picking up sediments from the White Mtns. When the glaciers melted, due to climate changes, it created huge silty rivers which deposited tons of sediment. It was this sediment that brought the sand and rocks to now what is Plum Island. The sand itself is made of mostly granite and quartz. I love the fact that the purple sand is made from garnett! I also found it very interesting, and something that I will definitely share with my students, is how Gary described erosion as a process, rather than a problem. Plum island will mostly likely not be there in another 500 years. Again, this would be the result of the 'process' of our ever changing surface of the Earth.
The island is home to various organisms that have adapted to survive the sun, wind, salt and sand that the island throws at them. My first sighting in the tidepool was the horseshoe crab! The sanddollar (below) was another special find. We also found baby shrimp, mussells, periwinkles, etc.
The name Plum Island is due to the beach plums that grow on the island and can be make into jam. Another adventure I'd love to try! Some other plant life that we encountered and avoided crushing was the brittle, low laying algae and fungus combo- lichen. Gary also told us that the fuzzy ends of the Sumack tree can be steeped and drank as a sweet drink. We also saw some Bayberry bushes, poison ivy, and beach heather, which enjoys the leeward side of the island.
As we traveled across the island we identified scat, mostly from coyotes and fischer cats. We also saw many tracks made by coyotes. I loved the plaster print ideas and will somehow have to also do that activity with my students.
We observed and collected various looking owl pellets and saw the trail of deer through the grasses. Of course, the garter snake encounter is most memorable for me. I was thoroughly impressed with the boys' fearless pounces to catch that hissing snake! Bravo!
Because I teach ecosystems and adaptations to my fifth graders, I think those 'big ideas' would be the focus of my trip to Plum Island. How do these plants and animals need to adapt to survive and thrive on this island and/or in the tidepools? Why does the vegetation change so drastically in the 20 ft. from the parking lot to the beach? How are the species linked to one another? These would all be the type of questions that we would explore on our fieldtrip. I might consider having the students use inspiration software to link the organisms together into a visual map. I absolutely would use Google Earth to give the students a birds-eye-view of the island and the contour of the continental shelf off the coast of the island before and after our trip so that they would have a true sense of 'place' during our trip. I would also have the students conduct research about what type of species exist on the island and its coast before and after the trip.
Today was a wonderful experience for me. I enjoyed every minute, from the mapping exercise at the Boat Camp to the quiet 10 minutes on the beach followed by a chance for creativity...all activities I plan on using in my classroom. I'm looking forward to another great day tomorrow!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Wow! My brain is officially full! Today was another amazing experience. I teach both fifth grade science and social studies and feel like everything that I experienced and learned this weekend completely enriched my knowledge base in both subject areas. When I go to sleep at night, I have so many ideas for my classroom running through my head that I'm anxious to write it all down and begin my curriculum writing. I thought this weekend was going to be all about science, and it was, but so much more!
Today's tour of the Spencer-Little Pierce house was wonderfully educational. The people who recieved and worked that land are true examples of the American Revolution and the start-up of the land of opportunity. I am planning on enriching my teaching of the American Revolution and early American settlement with the inclusion of the history of this home. At this point, leaving it out of my curriculum would almost be a dis-service to my students. The history of the people who founded this country are right under our noses, even more so than some of the more prominent figures who are found in our text books. The guides at the farm explained that they would conduct a visit to our school guiding the students to write a historical fiction piece based on one of the people who lived or worked at the farm. I am definitely going to have my students involved in this activity next year. More importantly, my students need to know that the family shared a tootbrush made from animal bone and pig hair!!
Our last stop, the boat shop, really tied the entire weekend together. This is one of the few places that actually developed and is still in existence from the time period we learned about on our tours of the cemetery and the museum homes. I thought it was so interesting to see a company succeed and last with its roots prior to the Industrial Revolution. Manufacturing seven boats per day, or more, for year after year is beyond impressive. This all taking place before electricity even existed, makes it all the more fasinating. Hard work and the coastline provided a livelihood for centuries. I loved learning about the King's 'big pines' and the potential tax that would be bestoed upon those who were found using the big pines. This is an example of the sort of fact that will make my teaching of the American Revolution all the more relevant and meaningful for my students. Here is link to a picture of Henry Ford who visited the boat shop to learn how it was so productive...pretty impressive! http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0PDoS3tJ7ZNU0UAco2jzbkF/SIG=135dt1g0b/EXP=1303812205/**http%3a//i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee146/rhinomarketing/470px-Henry_ford_1919.jpg
Although not our last stop, the Oak Hill was a final place for me this weekend. To see the names of the people that we have been hearing about like Lloyd Garrison and the Wheelwrights and others who are connected to parts of my life in Newburyport still today, put it all in perpective. I loved the rural feel and landscape of the terrain, and will, again, try to involv my students in some sort of clean up, visit or preservation of the cemetary. I walked downtown right after we got our of class with my own boys and, as always, we strolled past the statue of Garrison in Brown Square. My youngest always asks who that was. This time, instead of fumbling through an uncertain response, I rambled for at least 3 minutes about the former bakery on Titcomb Street that sold biscuits to the sailors for their trips to sea, and that Garrison was a friend of theirs, and that he spoke about the freedom of slaves and women's rights, and it was all made possible because of a minister, Dimmick, who invited Garrion to speak, and that the minister was one of the first from a parish which was one of the first in our state....all of this I learned today from Ghlee Woodworth as we tiptoed through the tombstones! Wow! My kids were checked out at that point, but I was pretty impressed with myself!
Thank you for a great weekend, and a lot of learning!
Hello!
My name is Trina Forrest and I'm a teacher at the Page School in West Newbury. The ocean has always been a place where my family and I enjoy spending time every chance we can!
In addition to loving the coast as a past-time, I teach 5th grade science and have many opportunities within my curriculum to study the ocean. My students and I learn about various ecosystems and explore how living organisms depend on each other. One of our fieldtrips associated with this unit is to explore tidepools on Plum Island. I'm looking forward to digging deeper into how to teach about our oceans more effectively!
Friday, April 8, 2011
I had a great first night! I really enjoyed our tour of the Cushing House, especially since I will be going on a field-trip there later this spring with my 5th grade class. I took notes like crazy, absorbing as much as I could as our 'tour guide' impressed us with his wealth of knowledge! He was so knowledgable and a really gifted guide! Learning about the history of the development of the Newburys was very interesting and I feel like I have gained such valuable depth to teaching Massachusett's history. It is a true testament as to how humans depend so much on our oceans for our existence and how our oceans have created entire cultures, like that of Newburyport, by supplying people with a livelyhood and culture.
Coming into the course, I was still very unclear of the meaning behind the term 'ocean literacty'. After our first session, I have a much better sense of the meaning and importance of this term. The seven principles of ocean literacy all make powerful statements, but number seven resonates most deeply with me. "The ocean is largely unexplored"...I can't help but think of the recent news I heard last night that Richard Branson will be using a mini-submarine developed by NASA to explore the bottom of the Earth's deepest ocean. I can't think of a more overdue exploration! The following is the web link to the newcast I watched last night. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/05/richard-branson-plans-deep-ocean-dive-sub/. It's amazing how far our ocean exploration has come since the days of Prince Henry's Navigation School! (That is something we talk about in Fifth Grade History along with ship designs and early navigational tools. I think is an astrolabe that I saw at the Cushing House?!)
This, in turn, leads me to the sixth principle, "The ocean and humans are inextricably linked" which is almost equally important to me. When I read that principle, I cringed because I felt a huge guilt that humans are destroying this relationship. The radioactive snow, the contaminated discs, the oil spill, the garbage whirls that are floating in the Pacific, and the list goes on! The eternal effects of these types of human interactions with the fragile ecosystems within these ocean systems will probably never be truly quantified or understood, until we explore all the depths of our oceans.
I am looking forward to exploring Plum Island tomorrow. To me, it is 'place-based' education at its best! Plum Island is where I, my family and my students exist as a culture. It's how we live here in Newburyport and how my students live in West Newbury. We surf, play in the sand, swim in the ocean, sail, boat, and fish. We eat seafood, we explore tidepools and we are constantly trying to improve our bad habits that pollute our oceans. I'm hoping to bring back some concrete examples of how I can educate my students in a way that makes their life more meaningful. Why do they need to learn about ecosystems? Why do we explore the tidepools at Plum Island? Why should we explore our oceans? I want all of my students to feel a connection to each of these questions. They need to feel a sense of awareness and a sense of 'own-ness'. John's statistic of 60% of the population lives within 50 miles of an ocean say it all!
Saturday, April 9th, 2011
Another great class! What a gorgeous day and beautiful location! I have a new love and respect for Plum Island. Rarely have I explored beyond Lot #1 of the reserve. So besides navigating the boardwalk and building sandcastles with my kids, I have not learned much about the island. Gary and Rob taught us so many interesting fact on how the island was formed, how it affects the land behind it, and how it will continue to change in the future.
Gary explained that a barrier island is an island that protects and shapes everything behind it. In the case of Plum Island, that is mostly the salt marshes. Plum Island is basically a large sandbar. The sand and rocks which make up the island have been deposited there by huge glaciers that traveled south from Wisconsin/Canada picking up sediments from the White Mtns. When the glaciers melted, due to climate changes, it created huge silty rivers which deposited tons of sediment. It was this sediment that brought the sand and rocks to now what is Plum Island. The sand itself is made of mostly granite and quartz. I love the fact that the purple sand is made from garnett! I also found it very interesting, and something that I will definitely share with my students, is how Gary described erosion as a process, rather than a problem. Plum island will mostly likely not be there in another 500 years. Again, this would be the result of the 'process' of our ever changing surface of the Earth.
The island is home to various organisms that have adapted to survive the sun, wind, salt and sand that the island throws at them. My first sighting in the tidepool was the horseshoe crab! The sanddollar (below) was another special find. We also found baby shrimp, mussells, periwinkles, etc.
The name Plum Island is due to the beach plums that grow on the island and can be make into jam. Another adventure I'd love to try! Some other plant life that we encountered and avoided crushing was the brittle, low laying algae and fungus combo- lichen. Gary also told us that the fuzzy ends of the Sumack tree can be steeped and drank as a sweet drink. We also saw some Bayberry bushes, poison ivy, and beach heather, which enjoys the leeward side of the island.
As we traveled across the island we identified scat, mostly from coyotes and fischer cats. We also saw many tracks made by coyotes. I loved the plaster print ideas and will somehow have to also do that activity with my students.
We observed and collected various looking owl pellets and saw the trail of deer through the grasses. Of course, the garter snake encounter is most memorable for me. I was thoroughly impressed with the boys' fearless pounces to catch that hissing snake! Bravo!
Because I teach ecosystems and adaptations to my fifth graders, I think those 'big ideas' would be the focus of my trip to Plum Island. How do these plants and animals need to adapt to survive and thrive on this island and/or in the tidepools? Why does the vegetation change so drastically in the 20 ft. from the parking lot to the beach? How are the species linked to one another? These would all be the type of questions that we would explore on our fieldtrip. I might consider having the students use inspiration software to link the organisms together into a visual map. I absolutely would use Google Earth to give the students a birds-eye-view of the island and the contour of the continental shelf off the coast of the island before and after our trip so that they would have a true sense of 'place' during our trip. I would also have the students conduct research about what type of species exist on the island and its coast before and after the trip.
Today was a wonderful experience for me. I enjoyed every minute, from the mapping exercise at the Boat Camp to the quiet 10 minutes on the beach followed by a chance for creativity...all activities I plan on using in my classroom. I'm looking forward to another great day tomorrow!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Wow! My brain is officially full! Today was another amazing experience. I teach both fifth grade science and social studies and feel like everything that I experienced and learned this weekend completely enriched my knowledge base in both subject areas. When I go to sleep at night, I have so many ideas for my classroom running through my head that I'm anxious to write it all down and begin my curriculum writing. I thought this weekend was going to be all about science, and it was, but so much more!Today's tour of the Spencer-Little Pierce house was wonderfully educational. The people who recieved and worked that land are true examples of the American Revolution and the start-up of the land of opportunity. I am planning on enriching my teaching of the American Revolution and early American settlement with the inclusion of the history of this home. At this point, leaving it out of my curriculum would almost be a dis-service to my students. The history of the people who founded this country are right under our noses, even more so than some of the more prominent figures who are found in our text books. The guides at the farm explained that they would conduct a visit to our school guiding the students to write a historical fiction piece based on one of the people who lived or worked at the farm. I am definitely going to have my students involved in this activity next year. More importantly, my students need to know that the family shared a tootbrush made from animal bone and pig hair!!
Our last stop, the boat shop, really tied the entire weekend together. This is one of the few places that actually developed and is still in existence from the time period we learned about on our tours of the cemetery and the museum homes. I thought it was so interesting to see a company succeed and last with its roots prior to the Industrial Revolution. Manufacturing seven boats per day, or more, for year after year is beyond impressive. This all taking place before electricity even existed, makes it all the more fasinating. Hard work and the coastline provided a livelihood for centuries. I loved learning about the King's 'big pines' and the potential tax that would be bestoed upon those who were found using the big pines. This is an example of the sort of fact that will make my teaching of the American Revolution all the more relevant and meaningful for my students. Here is link to a picture of Henry Ford who visited the boat shop to learn how it was so productive...pretty impressive!
http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0PDoS3tJ7ZNU0UAco2jzbkF/SIG=135dt1g0b/EXP=1303812205/**http%3a//i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee146/rhinomarketing/470px-Henry_ford_1919.jpg
Although not our last stop, the Oak Hill was a final place for me this weekend. To see the names of the people that we have been hearing about like Lloyd Garrison and the Wheelwrights and others who are connected to parts of my life in Newburyport still today, put it all in perpective. I loved the rural feel and landscape of the terrain, and will, again, try to involv my students in some sort of clean up, visit or preservation of the cemetary. I walked downtown right after we got our of class with my own boys and, as always, we strolled past the statue of Garrison in Brown Square. My youngest always asks who that was. This time, instead of fumbling through an uncertain response, I rambled for at least 3 minutes about the former bakery on Titcomb Street that sold biscuits to the sailors for their trips to sea, and that Garrison was a friend of theirs, and that he spoke about the freedom of slaves and women's rights, and it was all made possible because of a minister, Dimmick, who invited Garrion to speak, and that the minister was one of the first from a parish which was one of the first in our state....all of this I learned today from Ghlee Woodworth as we tiptoed through the tombstones! Wow! My kids were checked out at that point, but I was pretty impressed with myself!
Thank you for a great weekend, and a lot of learning!
http://www.prsd.org/cms/page_view?d=x&piid=&vpid=1267280780274- This is the link to Pentucket's Habit of Learning Rubric for Communication.